I still enjoy the greatest art, but my anime blogging has moved to a secret, undisclosed location. May it flourish there unencumbered by its legacy.

Rocket Girls is cheesily exciting if nothing else. This is exactly why I like Naruto, too.

I half expected to hear, "Aaaaaand the vehicle has clearead the tower!" It never happened, of course. It's purely an American thing. In Russia, service towers are reclined away from the booster before launch, so there's no danger of a wind gust drifting the rocket into tower. In Japan, well...

The horribly cheap animation is on display in just about every screencap I took. Sigh. {Update: The smoke improves later (spoilers).}

I don't quite know why LOX is involved. In real life, supposedly "safe" hybrids use N₂O for oxidizer. Perhaps it's used by OMS on Tanpopo, although usually OMS burn hyperholic propellants. This allows for longer duration missions without a concern for boil-off. Apollo used LOX for something in the SM (I only know this because LOX tank exploded on Apollo 13).

{Update: This question was actually answered in the show, but I forgot about it.

They really do use an O2-oxidized hybrid for the core stage.}

One thing I find strange is how old some references are. The Attack No.1 was in early 70s, if I remember well. Not 90s, not 80s. I don't know when the Timotei ad was broadcast, but that does not sound very recent either. How in the world can Konata know about these things?

I blame Konata's father. We're talking about a guy who knows how to tie a sash for crying out loud. The ep.7 afforded us the first glance of him. That high nose was something else. That guy must have some stash of ancient cultural artifacts around the house. Maybe a real set of swords from before WWII. Or VHS tapes from the 80s.

I've got Ranma ½ Season 1 on a thinpack today for my fansubber's duty.

The reason this can be considered cheating is that I watched Ranma about three years ago, when thinpacks weren't available. Thus, by procrastinating sufficiently, I am only paying VIZ about $40.

I probably won't even open it. OTOH, this is what I thought about Chobits too...

BTW, one more thing. The copyright is from 2001 on this release. The original broadcast was in 1989. So, basically, studios are already getting the Lessig's perpetual copyright, only without paying any duties. I wish homeowners were so slick.

So Haruka is in love with the giant robot she's piloting, and the feeling is mutual? I remember how reviewers loved to write about Freudian significance of getting inside the Eva unit made by your father. This shit is right there with that. When the 2006 brought us giant mecha powered by lesbian power, it was not quite as creepy, because of more open and unabashed nature of it (also allowed to reject the show sight unseen, which was useful). But this is sneaky.

Otherwise, Xenoglossia seems like a neat enough show. Pretty animation; big budget brings collar bones back, hip-hip hurray. I wish they didn't try to extend it for 26 episodes, but it's hopeless. There doesn't seem to be enough character story, but there's enough of the detective story.

As an aside, this is funny:

They have actually said "kurake(ru)", so the caption is not a fantasy of the translator. The ESR's crusade starts to make headway just when ESR himself decided to marginalize himself. Ironic.

I was quite busy with hackery and work recently, and in the same time a) there was a number of interesting shows starting this season, b) Netflix queue continues to churn, so I am having a record number of series running simultaneously (only very slowly).

Some time back I had fun selecting a single screenshot to depict whole series. For Hanaukyo Maid Tai it was a success, with selected shots oozing deeper meaning. Unfortunately, this meaning is likely to get lost, so I'm going spell it out from now on. Yes, it's like explaining a joke when nobody laughed after the punch line.

Abenobashi is often said a vastly improved Excel Saga, although they only borrowed the series structure where heroes spend each episode in the new parody world. The screencap illustrates the unexpectedly good production values and characters.

So far, Gurenn-Lagann's essense is manic action, with a good helping of humor and Yoko's boobage. If Zero no Tsukaima is ultimate harem, Gurenn-Lagann is ultimate shonen. It really is great, but not my kind of anime and I am in the process of dropping it actually. The screencap highlights the preposterous design of just about everything in the show.

Lucky Star I blogged before. This is another Excel Saga wannabe, only in being equally self-referencial into otakudom this time. I am trying my best to ignore the in-jokes and just listen to the characters, then hit the stop button when Akira-chan appears. The picture is for the scene which allegedly costed series director his job.

Nadesico is a pseudo-classic (1996 vintage). It started very well and was great fun but seems sagging midway, due to the poorly executed, railroaded harem. Picture needs no comment, the meaning is quite shallow here.

Rocket Girls is designed to irritate engineers. On top of that, character designs piss me off tremendously. They feel very computerized and clumsily made. I should've dropped it long ago, but... it has realistic rockets. I am, after all, a reader of Rand Simberg, so I have to do this. The picture is my revege, showing the fantastically ugly main heroine.

Xenoglossia is Mr. Lawson's fault. I followed him here like I followed Steven with Nadesico. I'm gullible that way. I hated Mai-HiME, so what am I doing watching this? Well... it's not exactly Mai-HiME, for one thing. And it can be amazingly exciting (see the picture).

When I have no energy left for anything else, I'm rewatching Mahoraba. If this goes as it does, I see the importation of R2 DVDs in my future. Strangely, or maybe naturally, I don't have a screenshot with a built-in joke for it... If I want a capsule description, I often fall to "makes psychosis look heartwarming", but it's difficult to find a shot for that.

All together, 7 shows currently running.

I called the conical structure of LS-5 a "payload adapter" because it sits abut the craft, which is a payload. If would be an interstage if it were, you know, between stages. A real interstage structure looks like this:

Also... Weird link of the day: cross-promotion for real-life Japanese rocket girls (actally linked off WOWOW's website) [link]. Debian Women move over, we've got a new fetish here.

I don't think that I have an acute case of Engineer's Disease, but Rocket Girls seem to be designed specifically to bother engineers.

To begin with, LS-5 seems goofy: it's a "1.5STO" design. It uses a single core stage, asisted with solids, which explains why its payload capacity is so miniscule. OK, I can see that perhaps staging was the main issue with LS-7. All right. It's strange, but acceptable: SSA wanted to avoid staging at all costs. But what is weird is the LS-5's enormous payload adapter. What in the world is it for?

The craft uses its OMS for the final kick, which is ok. Shuttle does the same. However, why did Morita say she's entering the transfer orbit (in her accented English)? OMS is used to exit the transfer orbit.

And finally... the engine bell is sticking through the heat shield.

As I mentioned it before, it's not impossible, and it was done before. But it sure looks like SSA engineers have a penchant for odd solutions. I'm not surprised that they run into weight issues.

Now the burning question is... Since the design is obviously reusable, how does it land? On the fire? Then, it must have landing gear, right? I expect it to splash down, considering the locale. And if the engine fails, is there an emergency escape system like on Vostok? I guess I have to watch all of it now.

P.S. Considering that the craft is reusable, it's very odd that it sheds the escape tower. {Update: Dragon sheds the tower too, I forgot about it. And so does Orion, as mentioned in coments.}

P.P.S. Writing is excellent, but the animation ticks me off livid. I just can't stand how computerized it looks.

I watched the original and the remake back-to-back and it was fairly interesting how different they were.

Original is like this:

And the remake is like this:

I enjoyed the original somewhat more, on the strength of Yashima not being present (much), but both shows are problematic and it's an even match overall.

Liked: OK
Rewatch: Not likely

{Update: Notebook entry.}

{Update: Another comparison, from AD2225.}

Here's one curious thing I saw on YouTube: the script which seyuu read.

I am wondering if they can be gotten somewhere. They used to sell cells back in pre-computer days, so why not scripts?

If things go as they do, this is going to be 100% anime blog. Seriously, is anyone interested in my complaints about HP iLO telling Linux "I will send you position in the range from 0 to 3000", and then multiplying every datum by 3000 (which puts every nonzero report outside of the range)? Oddly enough, Windows work (reportedly). Maybe I should call Bruce Perens or Bdale Garbee... OK, just kidding.

Lucky☆Star went out of the gate with an enormous load of expectations. Almost every blog I follow dedicated it a post or more. Moe-Moe Lab: "I don’t think it was all it was cracked up to be," Jeff Lawson (Hop Step Jump): "a mixed bag", AoMM: Panned, Minaide Hazukashii: "episode 2 of sucky star was just as bad", THAT: using as an opportunity to editorize about KyotoAni and the future of the art, BasuGasuBakuHatsu: quite positive, Nick Lustre: positive, Kawaii Menace: only poll at first, "Indifferent Star" later, Anime Desho Desho: panned badly, Bridge Bunnies lifted a bunch of quotes from others, got confused, Wonderduck: confused as well, Brickmuppet: Shrill Lolis, Karoshi: very positive, Kono Sono: not very coherent or articulate, BigN: somewhat positive.

My initial and flawed impression is that of Azumanga humor without Azumanga's substance. What's worse, creators had no idea what made Azumanga successful: this is the only explanation I see for the Lucky Channel. So while I hope that Lucky Star's special ingredient is there and just escapes my understanding, it probably is not present after all.

I really like the simple dialog. For example, Miyuki (pictured above) said: "まぜたりはしませんが、均等(きんとう)に なるように しています" ("I don't mix them, but I make sure they're balanced," or, literally, "I will become them into balance"). Actually, "kintou" was neigher in my Kodancha nor in Seigo Nakao's, so I had to look it up at dic.yahoo.co.jp. But overall, girls use basic forms which I studied before, and listening to them feels very pleasant and comfortable.

I don't think I'll follow this, I'm much too busy with work right now, but it may be something to revisit later.

UPDATE: Who knew, but I stuck with it to the end [link].

When I saw the bloody Mini, I knew by reason that such an eggregous breach of continuity can only be explained by product placement. But it can't be so blatant, can it?

Ubu says that it can, on the strength of Pizza Hut product placement in Code Geass. To the best of my knowledge, however, Pizza Hut never admitted to the sponsorship. Anime is not yet at the stage when such deals are announced with a press release. Still, the process of desensitizing to the practice in games was going for a while. Hollywood studios did it for decades as well. So, BMW might as well speak the truth now.

{Fridge thought: The telltale sign of product placement in anime is a proper logotype or spelling, not the number of occurences. When not sponsored, the brand is always misspelled: camcoder "PONY", excavator "Hatachi", etc.}

Mohammad writes:

One thing that caught my attention in episode 8 was the use of the swastika on the flag. [...]

I just realised something, all five girls in the student council have names that start with an “M” sound. I wonder if that is intentional.

Good thinking, but he needs to make further steps, develop the speculation. I wrote about the Nazi connection before. Regarding names, it is obvious that they form the standard Japanese alphabet progression "あいうえお":

あ	Manami	Amamiya
い	Mika	Inamori
う	Mutsuki	Uehara
え	Mei	Etoh
お	Momoha	Odori

A few bloggers figured it out, I saw it first on Nigorimasen.

I have seen the ending, slept on it, and today Manabi Straight joins Azumanga Daioh and Haibane Renmei in my exclusive panteon of the very best anime known to man.

This was a long road and many decent series failed the ultimate challenge.

Detailed report to follow later. Maybe.

Liked: Yes
Rewatch: Hell, yes

LJ tag: manabi

{Update: How did Ritsuko Okazaki manage to compose the theme song for an anime aired in January 2007 if she died in May of 2004? Apparently this project was in the works for an unusually long time.}

{Update: Jeff Lawson writes by e-mail:

Regarding the OP, Ritsuko Okazaki wrote the original version in 1996 (that's when it was first released, at least). She collaborated with Megumi Hayashibara on quite a few songs back in the day - in fact, the two were supposedly good friends. This is the first anime OP/ED Megumi has performed since Ritsuko's death, so I guess she decided to honor her friend by performing this particular song. It's worth noting that Megumi's version is "bouncier" than the original.

The ED was also written by Ritsuko, and was previously used as an insert song in the Wedding Peach anime.

Stirring. Also shows just how little I know about the anime scene.}

I saw the first DVD of Noein (don't ask), and wanted to check something, so I went to ANN [link]. I think I haven't seen such a list of studios yet, it's like a list of Boeing's suppliers for the 787 project. Production is apparently managed by Satelight (Who are these people?!). I am quite surprised that any kind of strict creative control may be possible when you outsource key animation to eight studios, but apparently it works. And they roped Xebec, Gainax, and Shaft into doing interframes for them, along with 49 other shops. It must be a real madhouse (please pardon the pun).

I saw a mouse in Fry's with a proud statment on the box: "Supports the High Speed USB: 500 reports per second!" I thought it odd, because Full Speed (12 mbit/s) USB circulates 1000 frames per second, and so a sufficiently fast device can deliver 500 reports per second without using High Speed (480 mbit/s) protocol. Which is probably what actually happens with that mouse. One has to wonder just why designers of USB could not create easy to use and unambiguous monikers like 1baseU, 12baseU, and 480baseU.

According to TV Yokohama, ZnT 2 airs at 26 hours, 15 minutes ("4月2日（月）より毎週月曜日　26：15〜"). Those Japanese sure work long days. I know what that notation means, but it's funny anyway.

The situation with BIOS NumLock and an odd Dell keyboard is turning to the worse. Jiri (the maintainer for HID) found a bug in my patch. The fix requires scanning HID reports raw. I suspect that may be objectionable... But what is the alternative?

My much-publicized move to raws met an insurmountable obstacle in ep.7, when the evil principal of Aikoh delivered her shpiel. And it's not like her sentences were too long or anything... There was too much content. Fortunately, fansubs caught up a couple a days ago, so I was able to know what she was yapping about in detail. I had a rough idea before from the spoilers and a few words I was able to catch, but now I suddenly understood that during the speech, her computer was displaying Mikan's blog, which is how she was informed about the personal relationship.

Honestly, the idea of transparent laptop screens is so retarded, I just can't understand why anime creators even bother with it. Even if it were possible, privacy issues alone are enough to bury it!

The ep.7 was unusually dense with "things", even by Manabi's standards. It shows (roughly in that order):

• Bronzed Momo,
• The three-way fight (The push-kick and the uppercut. Kagura and Osaka are no match for these fine students.),
• Mei and the cicada. I thought they took the usual, beaten, tired cliche and the icon of the summer Tokyo, and suddenly have blown the new life into it when I saw the first snap. And then they did it again. It's the high comedy of MKM and 2x2 Shinobuden seamlessly embedded into the best seinen since Azumanga. Ufotable is teh awesomest.
• Girls strewn on the grass from the front image at the fake SNS website of Seioh Gakuen (the significance of this is that the image from ep.7 existed when the website was launched, and so it gives us the idea of lead times for a show),
• Mikan's dream,
• Mikan giving Kaorin a tremendous kick in the pants (this goes with the notion of tuning character strength way up when compared with Azumanga -- I'll have to blog about it when the show is over.),
• The Manabi's vision (see below),
• The speech I mentioned and the whole dark and sinister world of adults, with Taka-chan serving as a lightning rod between the worlds.
• Dance with fireworks (captured by Momo),
• Wet girls (Sorry to disappoint, but it's not a wet T-shirt contest. However, the animation detail had to be ramped up 3 to 5 times by the count of line and shade changes. It's amazing.).

The vision scene follows on the Ufotable's habit of taking something that qualifies as a trope and executing it with perfection and a new twist. How many times have we seen the hair in the wind? I saw Akane Tendo doing it, I saw Aoi Sakuraba doing it. The twist here is how Takako Kakuzawa undergoes the awakening from the vision at the time. The wind gust washes away the dream.

Again, it's something that was done before, but now it's done right. Perhaps even perfectly. And the separate strand was a very nice touch.

A few folks gave Manabi its due at blogs (not AoMM though).

BigN: "Is “nothing happening” okay?" [link], "Manabi the last great visionary" [link]. BigN's place is where I commented:

I think what really captured me in Manabi is how forcefuly the characters are painted in it. I thought that I liked how Azumanga treaded light on it, and thought that fine-tuning the exposure would be good. But this is out of all proportions, and it it’s the best. And another thing, I like girls not being psychotic and neurotic wrecks. Mei took her transformation so well, coming out of her dark room. Even the frail Mikan’s mind keeps it together. So out of the ordinary teen-angst pampering anime of yesteryear. Go Manabi!

And I wrote it even before I saw Mikan making compliments. Dibs on Azumanga comparisons!

If someone wants to make comparisons, compare Manabi to Ghandi or Martin Luther King, Jr. I think Mohammad might be close.

Mohammad: "Politics has never been so good" [link]. There's no content, but an awesome poster-like shot. Scowling Mikan is either cute or fearsome, I can't decide.

Moe-Moe Lab: Ep.06 [link], ep.07 [link]. Spoils a bit too much for my taste, but a good guide to the imagery.

{Update ２００７年４月２日（月）: I swore not to do per-episode blogging, so I'm tacking this to the end of an old entry sneakily. I have seen the ep.08 and just wow. No words, except: what an amazing turn of events!

Eight years older?! That's a federal crime right here. Although I had a crush on a girl 25 years older than myself back when I was 40, so I'm not one to be talking here.}

{Update 2007/4/4: Another take on ep.8 (quoted verbatim):

Episode 8 inspired me because it was so EPIC. How is it epic?

1. They were able to do a re-enactment of Hitler's "beer hall" speech using LOLi girls (they even have a few shots of the Nazi sign!)
2. Random cuts and fade aways in the scene changes that reminded me of Serial Experiments Lain
3. The awesome sort of reference to Mahoromatic at the very end

Original at onsan: [link]
Prior post about Japanazi: [link]

The analogy can be taken further than it probably should, because Manabi's first putsch has fizzled out just like the 1923 Beer Putsch. But if Manami Anamiya is Hitler, then... Are they saying that she is destined to perform a spectacular comeback and come to an even more spectacular bad end?

Fortunately, there isn't any deep connection here, outside of onsan's mind. I was unable to find any references to Hitler chugging a tankard at the podium.}

{Update: Saturnine belted out a typical dissertation [link]. Curious.}

{Update: Vissione is taking the prize for the most warped perception. He watches the same footage as we all, but sees legs... spreading... [link]. You just can't make this stuff up.}

{Update: Xebec (person, not the studio) is a bit rumbling, but also gives the show his approval [link].}

{Update: Karmaburn seems to have dropped Manabi, which is a great shame. I think he'd be capable of giving it justice.}

The Space Review reviewes Cowboy Bebop [link]. What's next? How about Red Hat Magazine reviewing Chobits (Remember "Red Hot Linux"? I have a screenshot saved somewhere.)? Or perhaps Code One discussing the vision of future aircraft in Yukikaze ("Stealth, what stealth?")?

I have to face the obvious and announce the abandonment of Crescent Love (Yoake Mae Yori Ruri Iro Na). The show was formally "suspended" after ep.7 since mid-February.

This is unfortunate, because I didn't see a character as interesting as Feena, the female lead, since Reki in Haibane Renmei, if that. Creators cut an unusual and lucky balance with her. Feena is a crown princess of a moon kingdom, and she had a good rearing. She is smart like Valerie Hanson, beautiful like... perhaps Liv Tyler, tough like Margaret Thatcher. Still, she is not an all around Mary Sue. For example, she's not as inhumanly strong as anime girls too often are. Although she's skilled with a sword (re. the demonstration in ep.3), her self-proclaimed "fiance" easily bests her. Her biggest fault is that she becomes indecisive under pressure (and her men tend to use it). But that only humanizes her. To top it off, she's nice. Maybe I'm tired of tsunderes and hungry for a genuinely likeable character.

Because of Feena, I didn't want to drop this show. And I do not agree with vicious reviewers. It was a death by the thousand cuts.

The animation quality wasn't as bad as everyone makes it out, but it looked cheap. Actually, it was very puzzling and I researched quite a bit, the line and shadow count, eyebrows, backgrounds, everything. In Azumanga Daioh they often use the same number of lines, yet the result is lively and attractive. I have to note though, while Azumanga is virtually defect-free, I saw several gross layering errors in just two episodes of Crescent Love. At the time I lost count, it started really piss me off, more than flat shading and weak color key.

Most reviewers were horrified by the nose-pinching. But I thought it was great! Maybe clumsily executed, but a great idea. As it turned out later, the ham-fisted execution is the hallmark of the show. My notebook had a few examples, but I think the most striking one was when Mai (the imouto) turns over her chair in ep.7. Even references were mostly dull. I mean, Mission Impossible? Please! Survivor? Kitsch! Indiana Jones? Overdone! The only one which worked at all was Iron Chef.

I had a few scenes saved for a write-up, like the Sad Feena In Snow above. But there's really no sense. It's the same pattern everywhere. If Feena acts, she overpowers bad plot, bad writing, and bad animation, but only for a short while. I didn't have the strength to cross the barren earth between these oasises.

So, there we have it. Oh, and OP song was pure magic. The tempo changes were very pleasing, and the "we are not alone" theme sounds nice (unlike the anime itself, where they drill it into our skulls like Caltrans workers with pneumatic tools).

Liked: Not really, although Feena FTW and uber alles.
Rewatch: Naah.

{P.S. Industry is happy to cater to members of Feena fan club with life-sized prints [seen at Moe Moe Lab]. I'd like me one of those pillocases. I would not put it on a pillow, but pinning it up as a wall scroll sure would be nice.}